1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally directed to methodologies related to research and development projects, and more particularly directed to patent-related tools and methodologies involving those tools for assisting in all stages of research and development projects.
2. Related Art
Research and Development (R&D) projects typically go through a variety of stages before an idea can be commercialized or launched as a final product. A funnel map, as shown in FIG. 1, is the classic way to look at R&D projects. FIG. 1 illustrates that an R&D project may have, but is not limited to, five (5) stages. The first stage is the Idea Stage. Here, the idea is expanded and is prepared for consideration as a formal project/program.
The second stage is the project definition and preliminary assessment stage (hereafter “Preliminary Assessment Stage”). This stage immediately follows the Idea Stage and comprises project definition and preliminary assessment of the feasibility of the technology and business surrounding the idea or project. The basic questions asked at this stage includes: “Will mother nature let it happen on the technical side?” and “Will consumers be interested on the buy side?”
The purpose of preliminary assessment is to explore new ideas and concepts and set in motion as many promising “seed” ideas or projects as possible. The cost of research and investigation is small at this stage. A single worker may have a project or even work on several projects simultaneously. At this stage, there are typically many avenues being explored and no valid idea is neglected. The main consideration is whether the idea is strategically appropriate, and whether the expertise available to address the idea is adequate and part of the company's core competencies. The output of this stage is the validation of ideas, physical principles and market features. Metrics for this process address the possibility of a market and whether or not basic scientific principles are established.
The next stage relates to the feasibility of technology and business relating to the idea (hereafter “Feasibility Stage”). At this stage the company has tentatively agreed on a particular R&D project. We believe that Mother Nature will let it happen, but in this stage the purpose is to show that Mother Nature will allow it to happen. Thus, this stage tests whether a concept is validated in the laboratory by making a prototype any way that it can be done. The emphasis is on the proof-of-principle for real business applications.
The Feasibility Stage is also concerned with validating that at least one lead customer might be interested in the technology or idea. Here, business considerations such as market window and competitive reaction begin to be important, although there will still be exploration of options and possible spin-offs of the technology or idea. The “filtration” function at this stage (to go on to the next stage) is fairly strong, since although the cost of research in the Feasibility Stage is still not great, there typically are many more candidate ideas than there are resources to explore them.
The following stage addresses the product development prototyping and market development (hereafter “Development Stage”). Development projects are carried out for the ideas that are highly promising for commercialization and meet all of the requirements for profitable business products. Here, we are concerned with whether a set of key lead customers will be interested, and not just one lead customer (as in the Feasibility Stage). In addition, candidate technologies in this stage have forecast long-term corporate benefit, and meet all the strategic requirements of fit, alignment, and attractiveness for the business. Emphasis shifts in this stage to harder-edge issues, such as timing and execution to assure that market windows are met and product needs are satisfied. There is also emphasis on maintaining and extending technologies to keep a competitive edge in the marketplace. Milestones are important due to cycle time issues. Project finding must be managed more carefully due to budgets which are typically millions of dollars rather than the 100 times lower investment that may be typical of the Feasibility and Preliminary Assessment Stages.
The final stage involves scale-up and commercial introduction of the product or service that resulted from the initial idea (hereafter “Scale-up Stage”). The Scale-up Stage is the last stage prior to full product launch. Here, the question asked is whether the company will be able to deliver the product with quality and service. Concerns for entering full commercialization are about whether all major manufacturing and distribution hurdles are cleared, and whether commercialization costs allow for profitable entry into the marketplace. Some strategic questions must still be addressed, including market need and timing. Metrics here address both the strategic and tactical issues. Scale-up is obviously market and manufacturing oriented. Careful management of commercialization and product costs, timing, and execution are the key issues. Since budgets up to tens to hundreds of millions of dollars may be at stake, program and resource management are paramount.
Once a business goes through the R&D process for multiple products and/or services a R&D portfolio is created. Typically, a R&D project consists of a written description. This written description has similar elements, such as the purpose of developing the technology, the particular way it will be done, the types of things it may be useful for, and so forth. It is important for a business with such a portfolio to be able to improve upon its R&D portfolio. One example of how to improve the R&D portfolio has been called Third Generation R&D and the goal is to select and improve upon an R&D portfolio (hereafter “Portfolio Stage”). In order to improve upon an R&D portfolio, it would be helpful to compare a R&D project in the portfolio with existing markets and technologies.
How much time is spent at each of the stages above depends partly on the idea itself. For example, an idea can just be a small deviation from what already exists (e.g., red pens exist and the idea is to make a blue pen), or an idea can be completely on the other side of the spectrum and be a breakthrough idea (e.g., a flying car). For ideas that are small deviations from what already exists, the stages of R&D process are passed through so quickly that one may not even realize they are touching every stage. For breakthrough ideas, one stage may last many years. Here, one loses track of which stage he or she is in because each stage is so drawn out.
It is possible to facilitate, expedite, and enhance R&D projects by building upon work that has been performed in the past. However, there are little if any automated tools for assisting in this process. There are even less automated tools that utilize patent-related tools for assisting in research and development projects.